JESUS’ FAMOUS SERMON: TEACHINGS
Matthew5: 38-48
Over the years I have been responsible
for reading textbooks, manuals, notes, and guidelines for work that I had to
do. For me to pass my Doctor of Ministry requirements I had to follow the
process exactly outlined in the manual I got when I enrolled. Some of it was
daunting. Sometimes I felt like the rules were meant to test us, to see if we
might just give up. As I was speaking to Ben Bookhardt in our church, and on an
earlier occasion to Aaron Mueller, about becoming an Eagle Scout, I told them I
think part of the message that the Eagle ranks shows is: “This young man can stay the course, follow
instructions, and, with the help of his parents, stick it out through all the
requirements to get to the finish line.
Today cars are lined up around the Daytona International Speedway for
the Daytona 500. The rules NASCAR has are strict and picky; few drivers like
them, but they abide by them. If a car is out of adjustment by even an inch or
two it will begin at the back of the pack instead of the front of the pack even
after the adjustments are made. If a car wins a race and something is found to
be out of adjustment, the win can be forfeited. Rule books matter. Guidebooks
matter. And both are useful.
Verbal teachings have stayed with me as
well. I remember my parents teaching me “A job worth doing is worth doing
well.” I remember to this day the
guidance my driver’s education teacher taught me as I began to drive. And the
motto to “Be prepared” has stayed with me since my days of Scouting. The way to
sing correctly has stayed with me from choir directors as recently as Thursday
night, and as early as my second grade membership in the Celestial Choir of
Trinity Methodist Church in Richmond Virginia. If teachings, and lessons,
didn’t matter, few would try to instill the values or give the step by step
instructions. But teachings do matter;
and in some cases they change the way we think into a new way from that day
forward.
Today we are able to listen in to some teachings
that Jesus gave in his Sermon on the Mount. As we look back on that sermon,
some of what he taught is troubling. But with the benefit of 1st
century context, we learn lessons that are good for us today as well. In
Matthew 5: 38, for example, we read that Jesus preached these words: “You have
heard it said: ‘An eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth.’ What Jesus was quoting was something today’s terrorists
need to hear and honor. This saying may seem extreme, but Jesus stretches us
even further in the Sermon on the Mount. Let me break it down for you. In the
Middle East in the days of the Old Testament, revenge for one death was often
carried out by killing a dozen people or more in retaliation. In our days there are some militant or
fundamentalist groups with attacks that kill fifty, a hundred, or even more just
to avenge the death or injury of one
person! One person! In response to the uneven and outrageous acts that were
meted out on others, God said, through Moses in Exodus 21: 24 and Leviticus
24:20: “an eye for an eye; and a tooth for a tooth.” Dr. Bernard Anderson, retired Professor of Old
Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, said: “This law of God was called
the ‘lex talionis;’ it was not an expression of vengeance, but a limitation on
measureless vengeance.” [Notes New Oxford
Annotated Bible, Oxford Press, 1973, p. 94] Instead of terrorist
retaliation, lex talionis offers a
measured response designed to curb the angry attacks and retaliatory responses
that so often happen. It was useful in the Old Testament days and, sadly, it even
applies to today’s violent groups. In
the news there are countless stories of someone committing a heinous crime
against many in retaliation for a prior act against just one of their own. And when people gain crazy courage from
drugs, drink, or militant religion, what they do is often way out of proportion
to the infraction. So God told Moses “an eye for an eye.” It was a way to say:
“Perhaps this is fair, or just, instead of outrageous.”
But thoughtful people objected to that
Old Testament maxim. One of them was Jesus. He taught a reaction that was
outrageously gracious instead of just fairly just or outrageously militant. He
said: “Do not resist one who is evil. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also; if someone sues you and takes your coat, give him
your cloak as well; and if one forces you to go one mile, go two.” Those
lessons seem to be beyond the pale on first glance; they seem badly weighted in
favor of the perpetrator. Those are not the way many parents teach their
children to act at school, nor is it the way many others interact with others. Jesus’ sermon seems outrageous. What he
calls for seems radical. And we might even join others in the world who think
those who practice what Jesus preached are radical. We’ll recall that Jesus
himself tried to practice what he preached, and he was crucified. Abraham
Lincoln tried to live by those words in turning a nation back from the brink of
schism; he was shot. Martin Luther King Jr. tried to teach preach these principles
in his teachings on non-violence. He was loved by some and hated by some. And
he was shot. Dorothy Day was the leader of a movement of Catholic laypeople,
faithful to a social gospel, and with the aim of transforming individuals and
society. She co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement and was seen as a radical
her entire ministry. Mohandas Gandhi taught this principle of Jesus’ even though
he was born and raised a Hindu. What was
his sermon? Just this; Gandhi said: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world
blind.” I think Jesus would have loved that! So
Jesus’ message is radical; it stretched the status quo from “outrageous
retaliation”; to “fair is fair;” to “I wonder what life would be like if we gave
people a second chance and showed grace? What if we graded others on the same
curve that God, through Christ, grades us?” What would this world be like? How
would our lives change? The Sermon on the Mount is not sweet; it is
radical. Jesus joins his mother who, in the song called the Magnificat, called
on God to bring down the proud, lift up the humble and have mercy on those who
honor him. Jesus brings the same message; “blessed are the merciful; for they
shall obtain mercy.” Jesus goes even further in verse 43: “You have heard it
said to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you love your
enemy and pray for those who persecute you …If you just love those who love
you, what advantage do you have? Even tax collectors do that!” Our Lord is
turning the teachings of some parents, some rabbis, and some teachers on their
ear. He is telling us to react differently. We cannot control how others act;
what we can control is how we react.
Like the rich young ruler who could not
do what Jesus asked because it would cost him too much, every one of us will
weigh the cost if we decide to try the Christ-like changes. It may cost you
your popularity in school if you reach out to the one nobody else befriends. It
may cost you prestige if you reach out to some one of a different race or a
different income than you. It may cost you money if you see a need and decide
to address the reasons a family can’t eat or afford a decent place to live. And sometimes we carry out Jesus’ sermon
collectively. In two weeks I will meet with a priest and another Presbyterian
minister to talk about FAITH, an organization in Daytona Beach making a
difference for people whose voices are not heard. Fighting Against
Injustice Toward Harmony. It joins the group known as HUM:
Halifax Urban Ministries, and other groups that are doing
what Jesus would do.
Finally there is the sentence that has
troubled people for ages. In English it is translated: “You must be perfect, as
your Heavenly Father is perfect.” How
troubling. How are we to be like God? How are we to achieve the high bar of
perfection? What in the world did Jesus mean? I had to go back to the Greek on
this one. First, it is a plural command, not a singular command so you could read
it as “All of you” or y’all.” Second, it is future tense; it is a command to be
different in the future. And third, the word is teleios, which doesn’t just mean “perfection,” it means “without
blemish.” Just as Jesus would become the unblemished sacrificial lamb that
would die for the sins of the world, he paid
the price for our sins and will presents us faultless (a better word for teleios than perfect”) before God, who
is faultless. Through Christ’s perfect sacrifice, we are presented faultless
before God, the one who is Holy and without fault. It is should be a statement
of assurance rather than a translation that causes undue concern and worry. The
better translation might be: Therefore, you and all who follow me will be
presented faultless before your faultless God.” Christians should read it as
reassuring instead of troubling.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ cuts both
ways: it brings good news to some, and it troubles others. But Jesus is the
voice of the Kingdom of God, something very different from the kingdoms, or
power structures, that are of human grounding. Consider well the teachings of
his message. Then decide if his words can be good news for you.
Jeffrey A. Sumner February
23, 2014